Bender

I would go with all of the above comments, i have been surprised by the nods and waves and general friendliness of just about every biker i have come across on my 125, with and without l plates, i wouldn't worry about it.

I think you know what you have to do, you shouldn't really have to work hard at a relationship and certainly not at the start, that's supposed to be the honeymoon period as for the negativity two words for him, first one starts with f send with o, I'm sure you can fill in the blanks. If you want to make sure there is no hope, just sit him down down and put it all to him don't leave any room for ambiguity, he doesn't have to love bikes but I'm pretty sure he's supposed to love you. Remember love can be blind, but it doesn't have to be deaf dumb and stupid. Good luck

congratulations

Good luck. U turns, the rear brake needs very little pressure it wont pull the back of the bike down to make it more stable, if your pressing it that hard its just going to make everything else so much harder, your going to need more throttle, and have to slip the clutch more, vicious circle, literally. Slip the clutch to control speed, don't overdo revs, talk to your self as your doing it so you know exactly what your doing it will help with concentration, ohh and relax.

Well done

I bought a 125 just to practice the u turn, it was definitely worth it, easy to say but try and stay relaxed and focus and practice practice, don't worry about the next manoeuvre just concentrate on the one your doing if you think its gone badly don't dwell on it just move on to the next one. Mod 1 sucks, but i disagree with those that say its pointless, its all about control, you may never do another u turn in your life but there are plenty of situations where you will be doing tight turns going slowly, all its aimed at is to make sure your not a liability before they let you move on to mod 2. Good luck

Yes the big bike will get up to speed very easy, it's a more stable ride too, much nicer than the 125, the swerve is only a minor deviation in reality. Keep going I'm sure a few lessons on the big bike and you will feel much better.

Always keep left, unless overtaking or you need to be in another lane because of rout directions ie the road spills off and your following that road, if you keep to the right your forcing people to overtake on the left which is not safe, it's regardless if they are breaking speed limits that's not your concern. Keep at it, just think of it as more practice, albeit slightly expensive practice.

Before the next mod 1 your going to have plenty of time to practice, you need to get what 50kph sounds and feels like, leave it in 2nd gear don't try to change up, if your happy with the manoeuvre being a little over won't do you any harm, I went through at 60 for the swerve and 60 for the emerged stop but was still accelerating after the speed trap so got a gentle reminder,, so the bike is more than capable of it. Practice and don't let it get you down.

No but i had other issues lol, what are you doing the mod 1 on bike wise ?

I had exactly the same problem, I came up with pretty much what you are doing now. Focus on a point directly ahead while pulling away, foot up and onto the rest smooth and quick, get stable, i did my quick check on count of 2 try do it relaxed and smooth, don't turn too far or you will pull on your shoulders and the bike will follow which you will try to correct when you look straight ahead again and that's the start of a wobble, look back to your focus point, another count of 2 for me, physically make your self relax before you turn, and as your turning repeat something till your round, i used "drive" so as to remind myself that if the rear wheel wasn't getting drive it was foot down or bike over I also practiced this till the cows not only came home they went to sleep. If its just the wobble that's throwing you off, practice pulling away looking and stopping, separate it out into sections until you can put them all together. Are you ok with the actual turn

First off I'm very new to this. Second, try to relax, don't worry if it takes you a little longer to get the hang of it, if you feel really unsettled at stopping and clutch control ask if you can have another session practicing in the training area or pay for one, sounds like a lot of your problems are related to underestimating your stopping ability and slow control and slipping the clutch, this will all improve with practice, I'm still hopeless with u turns lol.

Well I ended up almost where i started, tried a few pairs on today and bought a pair of the knox nexos gloves almost the protection of the handroid without the shouty bits and not quite so race orientated. Thanks for the info.

I keep going back to handroids but i think they look a bit shouty if that makes sense, i like the level of protection but i think they may be a bit over the top for learning in feedback and comfort wise.

As above really, I'm still in the learning stage and would like some comfortable summer gloves but want the protection to be high and to cover the wrist, looked at lots but struggling to settle on a pair, not too concerned on price more comfort and protection Thanks